Anil Agarwal Dialogue brings together different stakeholders to discuss issues of national importance. The previous editions of the dialogue have discussed mining, forest clearances and water management. These discussions have been instrumental in pushing for reforms in the respective sectors. This year, the Anil Agarwal Dialogue will address the issue of energy access and the role of renewable energy in providing energy to all.

Energy access in rural India has been a development priority for the government for many decades. However, 45 per cent of rural households lack access to electricity. Around 700 million people depend on biomass for their energy needs, predominantly for cooking, and 77.5 million households still use kerosene for lighting. Although electricity generation has grown at 7 per cent between 2002 and 2013, we are still not able to provide electricity to everyone in the country. We at CSE strongly believe that India needs to end the energy poverty in the country and renewable energy will play an important role in it.

We take this opportunity to release the Citizen’s Report on Renewable Energy which provides insight on the current status of sector in India in addition to the some of the key stories that played a significant role in shaping the industry to what it is today. Our study on mini-grids, that establishes the need for a policy and regulatory framework will also be released during the dialogues. The two-day conference is focused on deliberating energy access issues, including electricity for lighting and clean sources of energy for cooking, and the role of renewable energy to meet the overall unmet energy demand.

Photo gallery

Day 2

Day 1

Speakers

Ajay ShankarNational Manufacturing Competitiveness Council

Ajay Shankar is the Member Secretary, National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. He retired as Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion in the Commerce and Industry Ministry in December, 2009. As the Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Power, he was one of the authors of the Electricity Act, 2003. He also conceived the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojana for rural electrification.

Alok SrivastavaMinistry of New and Renewable Energy

Alok Srivastava is Joint Secretary in Ministry of New and Renewable Energy since June 2012.
Prior to joining MNRE, he worked in various government departments including public health engineering and archeology & museums. He has handled a variety of projects with United Nations Development Programme and World Bank.

Anshuman LathGram Oorja

Anshuman Lath is the co-founder and Director of Gram Oorja Solutions Private Limited. Gram Oorja has been working in decentralised renewable energy systems since 2008. It focuses on community-based applications including micro-grids for electricity and cooking. He earlier worked as a consultant for the small-scale sector and in rural development projects.

Anumita RoychowdhuryCentre for Science and Environment

Anumita Roychowdhury is in charge of research and advocacy programme on sustainable cities and urban mobility at Centre for Science and Environment. Over the past two decades, she has worked extensively to build up the Centre’s policy advocacy programme on clean air, public health security and sustainable mobility.

Ashwin Gambhir Prayas Energy Group

Ashwin Gambhir is a Senior Research Associate at Prayas Energy Group and has been working on renewable energy policy and regulatory issues and on Indian climate policy, especially with regard to mitigation. He also has a keen interest in rural energy use, energy externalities, depletion of fossil energy reserves and the social and environmental sustainability of energy systems.

Atma Ram ShuklaBiogas Forum of India

Atma Ram Shukla superannuated as Advisor (Bio-energy) in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in September, 2011 after working for the ministry for about 29 years. He has about 42 years of experience in policy; planning; developing national level Renewable Energy R&D and technology demonstration projects and dissemination programmes and their implementation.

B K ChaturvediPlanning Commission

B K Chaturvedi was appointed by the Union Government as Member (Energy), Planning Commission in June, 2007. He has been Secretary to the Government of India in several Ministries, including Finance, Human Resource Development (which includes Higher Education, Technical Education and Elementary Education) and Petroleum & Natural Gas for more than six years.

Chandra BhushanCentre for Science and Environment

Chandra Bhushan is the Deputy Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). He has been associated with CSE since 1997. He heads the Industry-Environment, Pollution Monitoring Laboratory, Food Safety and Toxins, Renewable Energy, Climate Change Policy and Advocacy and Training teams at CSE.

Chintan ShahSuzlon Energy

Chintan Shah is President, Suzlon Energy. He has worked in the field of renewable energy for more than 18 years. Prior to Suzlon he worked in the renewable energy division of TERI. His expertise lies in understanding the policy and regulatory frameworks, tariff estimation, financing, designing and implementation of wind farm projects.

Deepak GuptaNational Solar Energy Federation of India

Deepak Gupta is the Director General of the National Solar Energy Federation of India. He retired as Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. He was associated with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare from 1998 to 2008 and spent a year with the World Health Organization in Delhi as Adviser in 2004.

Farooq AbdullahMinistry of New and Renewable Energy

Farooq Abdullah is the Union Cabinet Minister, New and Renewable Energy. An M.B.B.S by qualification, he has been associated with public service since he was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1982. He has been part of Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly for five terms and two terms each in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Gireesh B PradhanCentral Regulatory Electricity Commission

Gireesh Pradhan is the Chairman of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. He has worked at the Ministries of Food and Civil Supplies, Home Affairs and Power. He took over charge of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in October 2011 and was actively involved in development of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

Jasmeet Khurana heads the Market Intelligence team at Bridge to India. He is responsible for the research, publication and consulting projects undertaken by the company. Prior to joining Bridge to India, he was Managing Director, Headway Solar, a solar consulting firm. An engineer by background, Khurana did his certification in photovoltaics from Stanford University.

Jyoti DarKuvam Energy

As the founder director of Kuvam Energy Pvt. Ltd, Jyoti Dar has spent the past five years to reduce India’s dependence on coal and fossil fuels through use of solar PV energy. She has worked in business management and banking, with clients including the US Government and leading multinational companies.

Kanchan Kumar AgrawalCentre for Science and Environment

Kanchan Agrawal is Programme Officer, Renewable Energy Programme at Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). He has been with CSE for more than three years working on issues concerning renewable energy sector, particularly wind power. Prior to joining CSE, he had a brief stint with Hindalco Industries, Aditya Birla Group.

Mouhsine SerrarPrakti Design Lab

Mouhsine Serrar founded Prakti Design Lab in Puducherry, India. The company has provided clean-burning, fuel-efficient cookstoves to around 250,000 people in India, Nepal, and Haiti . Prior to that, he worked in product design as a senior mechanical engineer and consultant for companies including Motorola, Pitney Bowes, Intel, Boeing, and others for more than 10 years.

Naresh K JoshiAryavart Gramin Bank

Naresh Joshi is retired General Manager, Bank Of India. His work as the Founder Chairman of Lucknow’s Aryavart Gramin Bank (a unit of Bank Of India) won him and the bank the prestigious Ashden International Award in 2008 for sustainable energy

Nayan GoswamiCentre for Science and Environment

Nayan Goswami is the Programme Director for Renewable Energy in Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). He has over 17 years of experience in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, working in variou organisations like International Copper Association, Reliance Energy, ABB Limited, GE Power Controls and Siemens.

Nikolaus SupersbergerGiZ

Nikolaus Supersberger is Deputy Director, Indo-German Energy Programme with GiZ. Having began his career at the German think-tank Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy, he worked in energy system analysis and energy scenario modelling, concentrating on the integration of renewable energies and energy efficiency into traditional supply and demand structures.

Praveen SaxenaMinistry of New and Renewable Energy

Praveen Saxena is Advisor in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy where he is in-charge of Small Hydro Power Programme. He joined the ministry in 1983 and was responsible for various renewable energy programmes such as Solar Photovoltaics, Wind Energy, Rural energy programmes and policy planning of renewable energy. Saxena has over 40 research publications in International and National Journals.

Priyadarshini KarveSamuchit Enviro Tech

Priyadarshini Karve is Managing Director, Samuchit Enviro Tech. While working with Appropriate Rural Technology Institute (ARTI) she invented a number of improved biomass burning cooking devices, to reduce smoke in kitchen and dependence on firewood. She is co-editor of ‘ Shaikshanik Sandarbh ’ a Marathi language bi-monthly on Science and Education.

Raghunath MahapatraWelspun Energy

Raghunath Mahapatra is the head of strategy at Welspun Energy. Over the past 23 years, he has worked in industry and in consulting organisations. He is an electrical engineer by training and MBA in finance and strategy from XLRI, Jamshedpur and ENPC School of International Management in France, where he was a French Government schola

Ranjit BharvirkarRegulatory Assistance Project

Ranjit Bharvirkar is an independent expert working as an advisor with the Regulatory Assistance Project since 2013. He has conducted research and policy analysis since 1997 and has provided technical assistance to policymakers and stakeholders in both India and the US. He also worked for six years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley CA.

Satish Balram AgnihotriMinistry of New and Renewable Energy

Satish Agnihotri is the Secretary in Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. As Director General (Acquisition) in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, he managed the entire capital acquisition programmes and addressed a wide range of policy, commercial and operational issues. He also worked with UNICEF, Kolkata as Consultant on Child Nutrition and Health.

Saurabh KumarEnergy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL)

Saurabh Kumar was appointed Managing Director, EESL by the Ministry of Power in May 2013. He has worked in various capacities in Income Tax Department, Ministry of Power and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). He proceded on a UN Deputation to Bangkok for the last 2 years and was handling environmental issues in Asia – Pacific region. Anil Agarwal Dialogue: Energy Access and Renewable Energy

Shirish SinhaSwiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

Shirish Sinha works with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on their India programme as Senior Thematic Advisor – Climate Change. He has over 19 years of experience in rural energy, climate resilient development and energy/climate policy. In 2012, he was awarded Ph D in Public Policy from the University of Twente, the Netherlands for his dissertation ‘In Pursuit of a Light Bulb and a Smokeless Kitchen'.

Sumant SinhaRenew Power

Sumant Sinha is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd. He is also currently the Chairman of the National Renewable Energy Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry. Prior to this venture, he was worked with Suzlon Energy, and the Aditya Birla Group.

Sunita NarainCentre for Science and Environment

Sunita Narain has been with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) since 1982. She is currently the director general of the Centre and the director of the Society for Environmental Communications and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. She is a writer and environmentalist, who uses knowledge for change.

Sushil Kumar LohaniRural Electrification Corporation

Sushil Lohani is working with Rural Electrification Corporation on deputation as Executive Director, RGGVY Division (Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana). It is a flagship programme of Ministry of Power for providing access to electricity to all households in the country.

Tarun KapoorMinistry of New and Renewable Energy

Tarun Kapoor is the Joint Secretary in Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and is responsible for policy and programmes for promotion of renewable energy in the country. He has been involved in development of India’s largest hydropower house, headed a power transmission company and worked as head of Department of Energy at state level.

T L SankarAdministrative Staff College of India

T L Sankar served as Principal, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad for over seven years and continues to be Honorary Visiting Professor (Energy Policy) in ASCI. He has worked in Planning Commission as India’s first Energy Advisor and headed many committees. He is now involved in the Studies on Energy Security for India and for the South Asia Region

Usha RamachandraAdministrative Staff College of India

Usha Ramachandra, Professor and Area Chairperson of Energy Area, ASCI, is Doctorate in Economics from Central University, Hyderabad. She joined the faculty in 1998 and got involved in several of ASCI’s training programmes and consulting assignments in the power sector. She provides inputs on regulation, restructuring and reforming power sector for ASCI’s other programmes.

Videos

Atma Ram Shukla – President, Biogas Forum of India

Ajay Shankar, member secretary of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council, speaks on rural electrification and the future of renewables in providing decentralised electricity